UH FileDrop service FAQ

How does it work?

The basic idea behind this service is simple: we allow people to upload
potentially large files (although not too large) to our
servers, where they will be stored for a limited period. We generate
a random URL which can be used to download the files during that period.
Once the files have been completely uploaded, we send an email containing
this URL to the address or UH username you have specified as the
recipient. That's it, in a nutshell.

There are, of course, a few additional complications. First,
this service is provided to the UH community, and is not meant to be
open to the general public. However, we do wish to provide the ability
for people unaffiliated with the University to use the service to share
files with people within UH. In all cases, we require at least one end
of the transaction (sender or receiver, that is) to be UH staff or faculty.
The only practical consequence of this is that for a UH person to send
files to a non-UH person, the UH person must use the
link on the service home page to login prior to uploading files.

Can I send files to multiple recipients?

You cannot directly use the service to send files to multiple
recipients. When filling in the recipient form, you must provide
only a single email address or UH Username.

However, if you are a UH user using the service to upload files, you can
effectively send the files to multiple recipients. Once the upload
has completed, the resulting page will contain the link to download
the files. You can copy that link and share any way you like.
For example, you can email the link to multiple recipients. In fact
(here is a little secret), if you are UH staff or faculty you don't even need
to provide a recipient in the form: you can leave the recipient blank,
in which case no email will be sent and it will be up to you to send
then download URL to your intended recipients.

Are there any restrictions?

There are a few restrictions on the service. The total size of the
upload must not exceed 800MB. You can use the service as many times as
you like, but any single upload cannot exceed that size. Also, we provide
the files for download for a limited time only. Finally, the use of
the service must comply with all relevant University policies,
including
E2.210.

For obvious reasons, it's important to be aware of these restrictions,
particularly the limited download time window. If you are using the
service to upload files, you must clearly inform the recipients that
they must download the files prior to the closure of this window.

How long will the files remain on the server?

Currently, the files will be available for 1 to 7 days. A
notice containing the date and time at which the files will be
expired will be displayed once the upload is completed. Also,
both the confirmation email sent to you (the uploader) and
the email sent by the system to your recipient will contain
the expiration date and time.

Once the period has run, the files are irretrievably deleted.

How can I securely transfer files?

Even in the basic operation described above, the file transfer (both
in uploading and downloading) is secure, in the sense that "SSL"
is used to encrypt the traffic. This should provide sufficient security
for most users. However, it's true that in the basic mode of operation
the security of the system depends entirely on the obscurity of the
randomly generated URLs used to download the files. It is extremely
unlikely that anyone would be able to guess one of these URLs. But
there may be other ways for an attacker to learn the download URL,
and since in the basic mode of operation that's all we require to
download the files, the attacker would gain access to the files.

We do offer an additional level of protection, for users exchanging files
containing sensitive information. When uploading files, you can
check off the "Require Authentication"
checkbox. If this checkbox is selected, the UH user who is the recipient
of the transfer will have to login before retrieving the files. That is,
the recipient must know both the secret URL and the recipient's UH Username
and password. The recipient must correspond to a UH user. If you would
like your departmental email address to be included in those that can
require authentication, please use the Feedback form to send a message to
the FileDrop team.